The CD20 molecule (also called human B-lymphocyte-restricted differentiation antigen or Bp35) is a hydrophobic transmembrane protein with a molecular weight of approximately 35 kD located on pre-B and mature B lymphocytes (Valentine et al. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264(19):11282-11287; and Einfield et al. (1988) EMBO J. 7(3):711-717). CD20 is found on the surface of greater than 90% of B cells from peripheral blood or lymphoid organs and is expressed during early pre-B cell development and remains until plasma cell differentiation. CD20 is present on both normal B cells as well as malignant B cells. In particular, CD20 is expressed on greater than 90% of B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) (Anderson et al. (1984) Blood 63(6):1424-1433), but is not found on hematopoietic stem cells, pro-B cells, normal plasma cells, or other normal tissues (Tedder et al. (1985) J. Immunol. 135(2):973-979).
The 85 amino acid carboxyl-terminal region of the CD20 protein is located within the cytoplasm. The length of this region contrasts with that of other B cell-specific surface structures such as IgM, IgD, and IgG heavy chains or histocompatibility antigens class II α or β chains, which have relatively short intracytoplasmic regions of 3, 3, 28, 15, and 16 amino acids, respectively (Komaromy et al. (1983) NAR 11:6775-6785). Of the last 61 carboxyl-terminal amino acids, 21 are acidic residues, whereas only 2 are basic, indicating that this region has a strong net negative charge. The GenBank Accession No. is NP—690605.
It is thought that CD20 might be involved in regulating an early step(s) in the activation and differentiation process of B cells (Tedder et al. (1986) Eur.J. Immunol. 16:881-887) and could function as a calcium ion channel (Tedder et al. (1990) J. Cell. Biochem. 14D:195).
Despite uncertainty about the actual function of CD20 in promoting proliferation and/or differentiation of B cells, it provides an important target for antibody mediated therapy to control or kill B cells involved in cancers and autoimmune disorders. In particular, the expression of CD20 on tumor cells, e.g., NHL, makes it an important target for antibody mediated therapy to specifically target therapeutic agents against CD20-positive neoplastic cells. However, while the results obtained to date clearly establish CD20 as a useful target for immunotherapy, they also show that currently available murine and chimeric antibodies do not constitute ideal therapeutic agents.
Accordingly, the need exists for improved therapeutic antibodies against CD20 which are effective in preventing and/or treating a range of diseases involving cells expressing CD20.